Monday, August 15, 2011

Middle and I have been counting the days until Mr., Ms. & Little arrive here in South Africa with us. Now we are counting the hours! It has been a very cold, rainy, and dreary day here, but to us we are so stinkin' excited!!! In just a few short hours our family will be together again and Middle and I are preparing a yummy meal for their arrival with all kinds of delicious food we can't get where we live.

You know how sometimes you just stumble upon a new blog and absolutely adore it? Well, that's what happened with me and Simple Thoughts. I'm pretty sure it's been over a year and I just check in from time to time to see her beautiful photos and catch a glimpse of her beautiful style and sweet spirit.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Middle & I are down in South Africa awaiting the arrival of Mr., Ms. & Little. And, in less then a month the arrival of Jr.! So, if you remember, the original plan was for me to deliver in a neighboring West African coutry, but a few weeks before I was to head there, we found out that it was the time of year when French doctors take their vacation, and the other two docotors our NGO usually use decided that this year they would also be taking their vacation at the same time. Time for plan B: head to South Africa. (This makes our 7th African country in the last two years!)

Middle & I have been here for about 10 days now. It feels nothing like Africa to us. Of course, we are in a large city, so that may have some to do with it. (Of course McDonald's, KFC, malls, real grocery stores, movie theatres, speaking English, etc. make it feel much more like the U.S. then Africa to us too!) It's winter here and temps are in the 30's-60's; very cold for us now! A plus on that is that my energy level is a lot higher. Apparently the heat was really zapping me in our coutry!

I'm really enoying some one-on-one time with Middle, though things are super quiet and we miss the rest of our family! We'll share more of our adventures down here in South Africa soon. :)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

I am not sure if it is a fourth pregnancy thing, being close to 30, low iron, blood sugar issues, the heat here, or a combination of all those things but this pregnancy is kicking my butt! I have been so tired. Thankfully the nausea is long gone, but I never had that really awesome boost of energy that I did with the others. I can't believe in two months I will be meeting my little boy!

This month I have lots of projects to finsh up before I head off to a neighboring country to have this sweet baby boy. I hope I can get it all done! :)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

You ever have one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? My friend told me it's a "Africa Day." Today I am having an Africa Day. I woke up thinking all was going right. I had a quiet time, got a bunch of emails and paperwork done, spent some time with Litte while the older two were at school (it's the last day of school; whoohoo! I am SO looking forward to having them home for the summer!!!), pulled the Sticky Chicken off the bone and got the chicken broth fixings back in the corckpot, did my daily exercises (that seem to be going more like every-other-day exercises since life has been crazy lately), showered, etc. This was a lot of encomplished for the morning for me these days!

Then, I realized my house helper wasn't here....for the second day in a row! I know, a house helper sounds like a luxury, and I sound like a total baby. But, seriously I do now more here with a part-time house helper then I ever did as a full-time SAHM in the U.S. You seriously can not imagine the dirt or how time consuming everything here is. But, I digress...

Oh, wait the shower faucet is pouring water out of the bath onto the shower floor?! Awesome. Let's call the plumber who I explain the situation to at about a three year old level. "Just come' and quick!" Hand mothions always get the point across better.

So, now I have a bunch more to do today when I already had on my long list. And, it seems like for every one thing I check off the list some sort of disaster insues that I must now clean-up or take care of. I am exhasted and I still feel like I have encomplished nothing even though I've been working non-stop all day.

Somehow, this has all been down right hilarious to me today and even though today has seemed like a train wreck I have been laughing through all of it.

So, what am I doing now?! I'm blogging while my sink soaks. Of couse. Because on a day like today....you might as well Shine Your Sink like Fly Lady taught you. That way along with your train wreck of a day, at least you have a shiny sink. Right?!

Off to finish shinning my sink and laugh at whaever else today throws my way. At least there is only a few more hours. ;)

Update: I finished the shiny sink (picture up top)! And, the plumber brilliantly fixed the link. Things are looking up. Oh, I also added the sign below to the kitchen. Here's to hoping it works.

Monday, June 6, 2011

So I had a second ultrasound and found out for sure that it is a boy! I think that after three girls I won't totally believe it until I'm holding him in my arms.

This whole having a baby in a country they don't speak English; not so fun! The whole ultrasound he is talking a mile a minute in French and I pick up a work here and there (like hand, foot, head, boy, everything is good) which let's me get the just of what he is saying, but still feeling clueless. It's a tad bit frustrating. I did however look up the French word for profile which not surprisingly is very close to the English. (If I am ever not sure how to say a word I say the English word with a French flare and it works about 50% of the time. Yes, I know I am a total language genious. Actually I have decided quite the opposite is true! But, we'll say I get an "A" for effort.) So, I was able to communicate to the guy that we wanted some pictures and definitely a profile one. He did a great job, the printer not-so-much; welcome to Africa!

Face picture which turned out pretty well.

Profile picture which didn't turn out well when printed.

We picked up the girls from school and they got to come with us to the ultrasound which I think they thought was very cool. I have to say after two years living here, having an African man touch my belly was really kind of akward. I mean, a lot of times they won't even shake a women's hand so the belly...that was just a bit weird.

Six months down and three more to go! I am freaking out a little becasue a.) it has been 5 years since I had a baby, and b.) I had lots of complications with Little Sojourner and being in a third world country is not really helping to calm my nerves! I keep coming back to this verse: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

To sojourn: to stay for a time in a place; live temporarily.I am currently sojourning in a foreign land with my family. But I am also, as a follower of Christ, a sojourner in this world because my home is in Heaven. 1 Peter 2